Resto 100 is, as always, a list of “essential” restaurants, which is most definitely not synonymous with “best.” We strive to reflect a world of dining in a constant state of innovative transition, to capture a snapshot of the state of the food world at this time.

As last year, when we first dropped Charlie Trotter’s, we’ve continued to cull the old guard of the high-end, both as a reflection of the economic times and as a call to action for such spots to up their game. This year, TRU, MK and Boka didn’t escape the chopping block. While we don’t deny their importance in creating the food scene we have today, there are many other places we’d rather send folks—for example, Sepia, Bonsoiree or Cibo Matto (where, ironically, chef Todd Stein is a vet of MK).

Rick Tramonto and Gale Gand are two of the most successful cooks this city has, but neither spends a significant amount of time at TRU. This is not so much an observation as it’s a cry for the fact that we really miss Rick’s cooking. We appreciate his cookbooks and that he tried to open a nationwide restaurant chain, but with that not working out, why not return to his roots? It should also be noted that Chef de Cuisine Tim Graham was doing some incredibly innovative work, but was recently transferred to Brasserie Jo.

Boka, which we loved for its Charlie Trotteresque complexity, has frankly been a little inconsistent in its execution on recent visits, and frankly maybe too Trotteresque. We love the direction Perennial has gone, look forward to Stephanie Izard’s Girl and the Goat, and think maybe they outshine the original jewel in Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz’s mini-empire.

That’s not to say you have to be cutting-edge innovative or perfect to make the list. For if you do something old-school or classic and you continue to do it well and you didn’t make your bones by being a game-changer, we honor that as well. This year, we added some overlooked classics including Marie’s Pizza, Ginza and, much to our own surprise, Hyde Park’s Calypso Café. Maybe the biggest surprise was Café des Architectes, which used to be as old-school as it gets. Martial Noguier and his pastry chef Suzanne Imaz are probably two of this city’s most underrated cooks, putting out slighty twisted old-school French gourmet plates flawlessly.

Likewise, the trend of informal, casual rustic dining doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere, and we dig that. To celebrate that movement we’ve added The Bristol, Paramount Room, Brown Trout, Kith and Kin and others.

The beauty of any list, though, is that you may not agree. So drop us a line and let us know.

—Michael Nagrant, Resto 100 editor Read the rest of this entry »

In the kitchen at Alinea/Photo: Lara Kastner

Resto 100 is, as it has been in years past, a list of “essential” restaurants, which is most definitely not synonymous with “best.” We strive to reflect a world of dining in a constant state of innovative transition, to capture a snapshot of the state of the food world at this time.

In these particular hard economic times, we find ourselves dining out a lot more at the BYOBs, mom-and pop-spots and small ethnic joints than we do at the high end.  That being said, while we didn’t set out to consciously create a list to address our lighter wallets, it sure turned out that way.  More than ever, this list is a cross section of the wealth of culturally diverse and reasonably priced restaurants Chicago is lucky to have. Read the rest of this entry »

River North’s Mr. Beef Deli has been serving Chicagoans beef sandwiches for thirty years. Its walls, decorated with old and new album covers, movie posters and autographed celebrity photos, testify to both its age and enduring popularity. In a much-publicized crisis, Mr. Beef is facing foreclosure. Unable to get a new line of credit “in these economic times,” the sandwich shop may be forced to shut its doors. Read the rest of this entry »

Establishing yourself as a so-called “Chicago institution” usually takes time, effort and an inordinate amount of luck. For Mr. Beef at 666 North Orleans, it was many years before the beef stand’s big break: Jay Leno being named host of “The Tonight Show.”

“He pretty much promised my father, ‘If I make it on ‘The Tonight Show,’ I’m putting this place on the map,’” says Chris Zucchero, Mr. Beef’s co-owner and manager, explaining that Leno would come to the shop weekly and order their now-defunct meatball sandwich. “He was the first celebrity we had walk in this place and after that it just sorta trickled down and everybody started coming in here.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Thomas Barbee, Laura Castellano, Tom Lynch, Michael Nagrant, Sarah Nardi and Andy Seifert

After  a weekend of ice storms, we like to remind ourselves of the reasons we love Chicago. And few things make Chicago finer than its native sandwich, the Italian Beef, an offering so ubiquitous around here that ex-pats are usually amazed to discover that it’s an “only-in-Chicago” thing. In that spirit, we offer up a bite of the city’s best beefs. Read the rest of this entry »

On the corner of Cicero and Hutchinson in the city’s Portage Park neighborhood, the bright green awning of Roma’s Italian Beef & Sausage marks the spot where Ron Sommario staked his claim thirty-five years ago. Today, he is behind the counter cheerfully issuing commands to his team of three employees. He addresses each with a gentle, patriarchal affection, even the one who just started and still “needs a little breaking in.” After making all the necessary arrangements, he vacates his post and heads over to a line of stools facing a picture window with a view of the heavy traffic on Cicero Avenue.  “Now where are my glasses?” he asks, looking everywhere save for the counter in front of him where they sit. “Oh,” he says and picks them up with a wink, displaying a bit of that irresistible colloquial charm unique to the stalwarts of Chicago’s older neighborhoods. Read the rest of this entry »

The simple beef sandwich was born on an August morning in 1762. That day, the notoriously corrupt fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, requested something far from a dainty teacake. He wanted roast beef between two slices of bread so he could eat easily with one hand, and gamble with the other.

The commercial sandwich industry in Britain is worth five billion pounds, according to Jim Winship, director of The British Sandwich Association. “We’re way ahead of the U.S.,” he says, quickly noting that the cheeseburger does not count as a sandwich. However, after some careful thought, he said, he would consider the Italian beef a sandwich. “I suppose if it’s hot beef between two pieces of bread then, yes, technically it is a sandwich.”

The British gentry universalized the beef sandwich, but those who popularized one very special Chicago sandwich—the Italian beef—was a very different group indeed.

As legend has it, Pasquale Scala was an Italian immigrant in Chicago, a sausage and meat connoisseur, who packaged and delivered his goods via horse-drawn carriage to his neighbors in the early twentieth century. After the depression his packing company began to slice the beef thinner and smother it with gravy—a still hearty meal for less money.

It seems hard to believe that one man, Montagu or Scala, could have popularized a form of the sandwich all on his own (there is speculation that Montagu’s estate workers were already eating the roast beef sandwich). So, as is with history, there is another version of the story: During tight times workers at the Union Stockyards brought unwanted scraps of beef home to feed their families. To soften the tough stuff they simmered it in broth, flavored it using typical Italian spices and put it between pieces of hearty bread.

Either way, one thing is true: Chicago is thankful.(Laura Castellano)